Elizabeth Patrick has more questions than answers after learning her father’s grave was empty.
Patrick is from England, and was estranged from her father. After years of searching for him she learned he was buried at Green Acres Cemetery just outside of Winnipeg. She wanted to have him relocated to Woodland Cemetery in Ontario, but when the grave was excavated, she got some terrible news.
“I got a phone call from the funeral director at Green Acres on the 21st of May,” said Patrick.
“He said ‘I’m sorry to tell you this, and I don’t know how to tell you, but your father’s not in the grave.'”
Patrick’s father, Gordon Patrick, was a glider pilot in World War II. He spent his final years in Winnipeg, and died in 1973, but he had no family in Canada, so he was buried without a headstone.
Elizabeth Patrick’s late son Patrick Moulden also served in the Canadian Armed Forces, and he was laid to rest in Woodland Cemetery’s Field of Honour in Ontario.
Patrick’s plan was to move her father’s grave next to her son.
“I don’t want him to be alone, and because my dad was a sergeant glider pilot in World War II … he is eligible for a Last Post headstone, and all the rights of being buried in a military field of honour,” explained Patrick.
Leading up to the discovery of the empty grave, Patrick was working with Last Post — a veteran-focused charity that makes sure all veterans are given a dignified funeral, burial, and a military gravestone, despite any financial challenges at the time of their death.
Patrick planned to have a military headstone for her dad once he was relocated, but the empty grave changes that.
“He won’t be allowed to have a Last Post headstone because … in order to have a Last Post headstone, you have to have remains,” said Patrick.
“He’s entitled to that. But without remains he’s not.”
Green Acres Cemetery, where Patrick’s father was said to be buried, was founded in the 1950s, and the original owners have since passed away. Ownership of the cemetery changed hands a couple of times in the 1990s before it was bought by Service Corporation International in the 2000s.
“At the time of the original burial in the early 1970s, Service Corporation International did not own the property,” said SCI in an emailed statement.
“Given the age of the burial, the historical records that have been passed down to us may be incomplete or inaccurate.”
Considered a missing person
SCI said the cemetery is exploring other areas near the empty grave to try to locate the remains. Because Green Acres can’t find the body, it’s considered a missing person, and the RCMP is involved.
“The RCMP Forensic Identification Section has attended to examine the site many times,” said RCMP in a statement
“The Oakbank RCMP is working closely with the cemetery and the family.”
Patrick said communication with SCI and Green Acres was cordial at first, but she noticed they started including their lawyer in the email correspondence. Now she’s secured a lawyer as well, and she hasn’t heard from Green Acres or SCI since June 9.
She said Last Post is still working with her to get a memorial for her father put up next to her son’s grave, but she doesn’t think she’ll find her father’s remains.
“At this point what are they going to do? Look all over the graveyard for his remains? I don’t think so.”
Patrick believes SCI and Green Acres should do a full inventory of its death records, so no one else finds an empty grave where a loved one should be.
A British woman wanted to relocate her estranged father’s grave from a cemetery near Winnipeg to a military site in Ontario, but was shocked to learn the grave her father was supposed to be in was empty.
